Using Black Powder, we played a game opposing the french defending a hill against the prussian assaulting, picturing a small part of a real battle.We have been a little bit disappointed by the rules and some modifications are required : for movement and shooting power especially.

jeudi 22 novembre 2012

Vue rapide de mon armée allemande deuxième guerre que j'ai ressortie pour pouvoir jouer à Blitzkrieg. (http://www.blitzkrieg.fr/)A quick view of my german army for ww2. I put it out of its box to be able to play at Blitzkrieg.(http://www.blitzkrieg.fr/)

A picture of my japanese sniper ambushed at the top of a tree...during our demo game at Crisis 2012. He shot the USMC lieutenant with a bullet right into his head as he was just landing bravely on the beach.

The sun rises on the ruins of the abbey located near Faversham in Kent countryside. The wind blows cold and wet and does not help men from Normandy to recover from the fatigue accumulated during the previous weeks.

The Orders from the lords are heard while the mist begins to rise on the future battlefield. Men take position. On the left flank, the Breton cavalry and Norman milites retain their horse prancing with impatience, their nostrils steaming in the cool autumn. In the center, a large contingent of dismonted milites camp behind their large shields and spears. A troop of mercenary armed with huge axes are ready to launch an assault on any shieldwall. In ruins, crossbowmen stand behind walls and columns, only remnants of the small church built here. To their right, the Duke leads its milites. Finally, a curtain of archers and slingers are hidden as best as they can in the tall grass. Odo, leading a band of horseman, went on the left flank of our army with orders to take the enemy troops from behind. At the Camp, located near the river, Liberi stand there in order to defend our backs.

After some shootings, skirmishes turn in our favor and the Saxon archers quickly retreated behind their lines. Our slingers take position in the ruins of an old barn and their marbles and stones fly in the sky without much success. Vikings supporting the Saxons rushed to them but are badly hurt by the crossing fires of slingers and crossbow. They quickly turn coat saying that the fight was not going to turn to their advantage.

William, our Duke, which aims to destroy the two main opposing forces, hardly see how it can be done, especially now that Odo has diceded to enter the battlefield before the scheduled time to intercept a large troop of Saxon horsemen, whose began to charge against our milites. The shock is not very violent, which allows Odon to strike the opposing party and after a wild melee, destroy the Saxons. The left side is safe, but the opposing line describes a curve and it will now be difficult to overcome it without a flank march.

As the climatic conditions are making the continuation of the battle uncertain, we rushed forward in a desperate assault to test the opposing line. The shock is tough but we hold firm and we have the advantage of the push. Our riders have much more trouble and get nothing decisive.

The battle ends without victory but in our favor considering the troops lost. The decisive battle is only postponed. I use the last light of the day to write those few lines, hoping of surviving to be able to write much more.

We therefore made a part of W & C Friday night at the club. The party has become much more fluid and we have mastered almost all the rules without error. For deployment, we used a mix of C & W system with Clash of Empires and a few more elements from other games. It was very interesting by introducing more tactical choices. This is to test again. Concerning the objectifs of W & C, the idea is very good but to accomplish them is very, very difficult : in the case of our game, I had to destroy the two most expensive enemy units and for my opponent, to occupy the center of the table for a turn without an opponent within 12 "! For now, the conclusion is that you must take all the risks if you want to succeed, but it means to dangerously expose your army and to lose everything.

Other comments:- The attack is a bit disadvantaged in particular with the use of spears that allows the defender to hit with two ranks while the attacker strikes only with one. With large units, the +1 charge bonus does not compensate for these additional attacks. In addition, the throwing spear does not provide anymore the possibility of hitting with two ranks when attacking but it only serves to reroll his roll for Kill.- Attacking the flank is not very powerful especially combined with an attack from the front. In fact, the risk of disorder is minimal and taking the flank provides only a +1 bonus to the combat resolution. The flank attack seems more effective alone and not turn you charge, but from the next rounds as your strike with two ranks but not the defender. Have to test again.- Skirmishers are not as powerful as in Wab because they just benefit from a +1 armor against shooting (instead of -1 to hit for shooters). They also do not prevent to target unit behind them but then gives a -1 to hit. They can not attack formed unit but they do glancing attacks, to represent harassment. In short, they have a more historical use perhaps.